I'm trying to find a user-friendly personal finance software that will help me track finances and budget. Ease of use is probably the most important feature as I'm not much of a techy, and I don't want to be overwhelmed with tons of bells & whistles...the least amount of time I have to spend with the tutorial the better. Thanks! :-D
Quicken is so very easy. I have used it for years. I am not good with computers so I felt like it was very simple. Good luck!
Quicken, I have used both thru the years & Quicken is the easiest.
B.--I'm a bookkeeper by trade. Quicken is my favorite for personal finances. I've used Microsoft Money in the past and found it pretty user friendly as well. QuickBooks is primarily for small businesses. You'll find that you will have a better hold on how much money you have, what you have coming up and when it comes time to do your taxes, reports make everything so clear. Good luck.
I have been using Microsoft Money for years. Now on version 2004. Started with just our checkbook, savings, and cash accounts (it's important to keep up with CASH, so making that a separate account solved a problem I had for a couple of years).
Is easy enough to use that I was able to show my DD and SIL how to enter their checks and deposits easily and balance their checkbook. After you track income and expenses that way for awhile, voila -- you've got a budget.
Once you get good at it, you can use MSMoney for more complicated bookkeeping; I keep separate accounts for each rent property and use it to run reports for my husband to do the taxes. By keeping up bit by bit over the year, our very complicated taxes (with home business) become easy.
I used Microsoft Money for years and loved it. I switched to Quicken so that I could import the info into Turbo Tax, making takes even easier. To me, it was way more work and I never got it to work correctly without a lot of effort. Now I use Quicken, but don't have it track deductions and all and LOVE it. It's super easy and only gives me the info that I need...how much money I actually have to spend. I also love that it has one-touch update, making it super easy to keep everything correct.
I love quicken! It is really easy to use and organize finances. My hubby had rather me use quickbooks bc that is what our accountant prefers, but I as long as I am keeping up with our stuff, I am doing it my way! LOL :)
B., my DH is a CPA and I do bookkeeping for him. We have this discussion all the time. If the information being maintained is very simple, Quicken is by far the easiest and preferred method. If you actually are a business, in which you have employees, or need to create invoices and such, then Quickbooks or Peachtree would be the preferred choices. I like Quicken because it acts as my checkbook and I keep track of all of our personal finance through it. Don't spend a lot of money on financial software, especially since it isn't necessary.
My husband and I use Microsoft Money and love it. I don't think we would survive without it anymore. And I am not computer savvy either and even I can do it. Hope this helps.
